Saturday Swim Session: 100’s then 50’s

Finishing the workout with some faster sprints helps to develop your finishing speed for races. This session is perfect for Ironman and Olympic distance triathletes or people doing longer Ocean Swims.

Each week I will load three options up for you to do. Option A is for swimmers who are after a workout less than 2,000 metres. Option B is for swimmers who are after a workout between 2,000 and 3,000m and Option C will be greater than 3,000m.

Option A

200m WU;

6x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);

8x 100m 15sec RI;

6x 50m on ½ T-Time + 10sec;

200m CD (1,800m)

Option B

400m WU;

6x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);

12x 100m 15sec RI;

8x 50m on ½ T-Time + 10sec;

200m CD (2,500m)

Option C

600m WU;

6x 50m (25m Drill/25m Swim);

16x 100m 15sec RI;

10x 50m on ½ T-Time + 10sec;

200m CD (3,200m)

Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) covering 200m (Option A), 400m (Option B) or 600m (Option C). During the warm up feel free to stop and stretch as needed. It doesn’t need to be a continuous swim.

Next up is a drill set of six repetitions of 50m Drill/Swim, where you do a drill for the first 25m of the repetition and then normal swimming for the next 25m swimming. Feel free to use fins whilst doing the drill/swim set. Do the drills below:

I wrote an article about swimming drills previously. Click here to read and watch it.

Following the set of drills take the fins off and complete a eight (Option A), twelve (Option B) or sixteen (Option C) repetitions of 100m with a 15 second Rest Interval (RI) between reps.

Follow this set with a set of six (Option A), eight (Option B) or ten (Option C) reps of 50m sprinting as fast as you can. Swim these starting each rep on half of your T-Time plus ten seconds. If you don’t know your T-Time you’ll need to do this session here first to determine your T-Time. Read more about T-Times in this article:

For the Cool Down (CD) swim 200m. Unlike the previous sets which have to be freestyle, the cool down (like the warm up) can be any stroke you wish to swim. You can also stop and rest after any length. I encourage you to stop and stretch during the cool down.

If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi Coaching.

I specialise in assisting first timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.

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If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published 12 months ago.

Ray has competed in triathlons from sprint to ironman distance (both IM Taupo and Challenge Wanaka). Consequently he is aware of the importance of balancing training with lifestyle, thus complimenting other important aspects of an athlete’s life (family, work, study commitments etc…).
• Entering your first triathlon?
• Stepping up to a longer distance?
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• Wanting to turn previous negatives into positives?
Ray has coached athletes to achieve these and more. Training programmes are accessible online, so athletes can be located anywhere and still reap the benefits of Ray’s coaching. Contact him to discuss how he can assist you to achieve your goals.

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Training Plan of the Month – May 2019

As you follow the programme you will find yourself swimming your 1,500m faster. Now whether that is a PB or not will depend on how fast you have swum in the past, but it will definitely be faster at the end of the 4 weeks than it is now. With this programme people improve on average nearly 2 minutes, with some people improving by over 10%.

Designed for triathletes who have limited time to train but can squeeze two short 2km sessions in each week. The primary goal of this training plan is to prepare you to swim 1,500m faster than you did at the start of the programme.